Wings, Woldingham and The New Forest

At the end of July I spent 5 days in Chelmsford, Essex, dancing with Stefan and Bethan at their annual Wings event.  It was lovely to meet and dance with them.                                                    The venue was a private boarding school - hired out for events like this during the summer holidays.                                                                 I thought Pegasus in the grounds was very appropriate for us.                                                  Most circle dance centres in England are quite simple, but this was stunning - real sunflowers too, grown locally

Stefan and Bethan entertaining us

From Wings to Woldingham, in Surrey, dance holiday with Brenda Kelly.  Another grand private boarding school

Decorating the dance space with bunting and flowers

I was in charge of the centre for this weekend, so it was very simple.  Fortunately that was what Brenda wanted.     We did some wonderful dances - old and new.  There was also some singing, and plenty of laughter.

Demonstrating one of Brenda's new dances, with Brenda, and Bev (one of her regular dancers)

Onwards to the New Forest area.  I climbed to the top of the Priory Church tower in nearby Christchurch.  Well worth it for the views.

A beautiful evening stroll along the river in Christchurch                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

This beach hut could be yours for a mere GBP 272,500.  That's about $442,00 in AUD!!  And you can't even live in it full time.  It has a tiny kitchen, sofa and mezzanine sleeping platform.  It is in Dorset, at Hengistbury Head if any wants to rush over and invest.....

Heather flowering on the cliff tops, Dorset.

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Old and new side by side opposite the beach in Dorset.  It looked very odd.

Brockenhurst in the New Forest.  The ponies just wander through the village, and stop wherever they feel like it.

There are cattle grids across some side roads and across people's driveways, to keep the ponies out of the gardens.

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 Walking with Barbara and Mike in the New Forest.
Once a year the ponies and other livestock are all rounded up and checked.  They all actually belong to people, but have the right to roam free and graze throughout the forest.  This keeps areas clear of brambles and dense undergrowth.  The pigs are let out to roam in the autumn to forage for acorns.

A stream in the New Forest.  Very pretty woodland.  The soil must be good with manure from the ponies, cattle, pigs and donkeys and all the leaf mould from the deciduous trees.

Dancing with Barbara Driscoll's group in her garden, in the northern part of the New Forest.  We danced and had tea and scones afterwards, all as a fund-raiser for the bees.

Barbara's garden again.  Looking from the lawn, down through the arbor to another dance area, with decking and a standing stone in the centre.  Very shady under the oak tree.